-sodapop

Ndidi with two assists at the 10

Not a bad start

I'm coming to really like him, don't want to jinx it too early but could prove to be a shrewd signing.

This is almost certainly going to put a target on the club's back moving forward from both the PL and the EFL, so we better have our shit in order. I'd be amazed if the PL + EFL didn't announce a rule change this season to allow enforcement of spending laws in each other's divisons - else this loophole will keep being exploited.

WE'RE CHEATERS AND WE'RE STAYING UP

https://ghanasoccernet.com/saudi-club-al-hilal-offer-e10m-annually-for-ghana-star-fatawu-issahaku Alledgedly Al Hilal offering Abdul a huge wedge of cash to go over there.

West Ham and Palace will pull away in the coming weeks. I reckon it's Everton, and two of the promoted teams going down (probably us and Soton if I had to pick). Wolves will look in the mix but go on a run at some point which gets them comfortable. Ipswich will barely stay up; maybe just because we get a points deduction. Good chance of Brentford getting into the mix too.

Shouldn't have been a free kick, but bad, bad defending

I'm really not dying on that hill, I'm just pointing out he isn't the first manager to try and use him that way, I didn't say it was a good idea. Everybody in here is saying 3 CDMs as though they're all going to be sitting in the same part of the pitch.

I think he's planning on using Ndidi more forward as he sometimes has been. I'm not saying that's correct but it's definitely not crazy. Anyway, I'm not dying on the hill of defending Steve Cooper, I'm just hoping for the best now.

Bilal was never going to start today so it's really down to would you rather have Buonanotte in the side or Ndidi; I don't think it's so egregious to take Wilf.

Honestly, other than his weird thing against Ricardo, what were people hoping he'd pick? He's clearly playing Ndidi as more of a box-to-box midfielder.

They've done well on the loans; especially if Alves can get a spell away in Portugal or the Netherlands (assuming he's not going to be involved with the 1st team). I'm super excited to see how they all get on; might be the saving grace of this season. The signings I'm less enthusiastic about; from the permanents, only El Khannous is exciting to me. But he is also the sort of signing that can crash and burn. Less exciting, but probably necessary, are Skipp and Ayew who I think will both do well. The fee for Skipp looked bad at the time - and I still think there were better bargains to be had - but I think the club wanted a known quality, and he's certainly that. BDCR and Okoli are weird ones, where I can see the thinking but I'm not sure if they were the best use of our resources. Okoli in particular screams that they felt somebody (probably Faes) was about to leave. He's been called up by Italy though, so the quality is somehwere there. Hope we get to see a bit of it this year. Golding, sadly, seems like he was purely brought over as a makeweight for PSR bullshit. The lad seems good and I hope he can make an impression and get a chance - can't imagine how it must feel to be 18 and used as the football equivalent to getting a bag of prawn crackers with your Chinese takeaway. Buonanotte looks like the real deal - I have the feeling he's going to be one we all miss sorely this time next year. Edouard feels like a bit of a last second "**** it, he'll do" type of signing - he'll probably bag about ten goals across all comps. Maybe that's good enough? Obviously it all depends if Cooper can get a tune out of them (or if he's even the man capable of doing that). The squad is, I would say, now better than what we had last year, but for 75m~ spent, I can't say I'm loving what we have. I don't think there are 3 worse squads than ours; but we're not far off the likes of Everton/Forest/Brentford imo. If we do stay up, in the face of everything, I'll eat my words and give Rudkin his flowers - maybe he's done enough here. I doubt it though.

Honestly if he can contribute 7-8 goals, that's worth the loan imo. The problem is if we get hooked into buying him.

Big Czech lump is it then? Couldn't get Hlozek, here's Chytil 👀